Team mate Max Verstappen was second, more than half a second behind, championship leader Lewis Hamilton was .70 back in third, and his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas fourth.

It was a disappointing evening session for Ferrari, which was expected to dominate on the sinewy five-kilometer (three-mile) street circuit. Sebastian Vettel, who is second in the title race, could manage only the 11th best time and teammate Kimi Raikkonen was ninth.

Vettel, however, set his time using a slower tire compound in P2.

In P1, he was second to Ricciardo, Verstappen was third and Hamilton fourth.

Singapore is like Monaco and Hungary in that it is a hard-braking track which is tough to overtake on, and more suited to Ferrari and Red Bull than Mercedes.

No driver has more podium finishes in Singapore than Vettel, whose impressive streak at the night race includes three straight wins from 2011-13 during his run of four straight F1 titles with former team Red Bull.

But Ricciardo arrives in Singapore in very consistent form, with six podiums in the last nine races.

He has further reason to be confident, finishing second here in the last two years, with the fastest lap both times.